Exploration of long afterglow luminescence materials work as round-the-clock photocatalysts

•Long afterglow materials degrade organic dyes through round-the-clock photocatalytic reactions for the first time.•Increase the degradation rate of photocatalyst by plasmon effect.•Theories about the physical mechanism and kinetic properties of long afterglow materials to achieve round-the-clock photocatalysis. The long afterglow luminescence material is a potential photocatalytic material due to its unique carrier transport paths and a large number of lattice defects, photo-electrons and holes. In this paper, Sr2MgSi2O7:Eu2+,Dy3+ (SMS) long afterglow luminescence material is used for a photocatalyst, we explore the photocatalytic degradation of different dyes under round-the-clock conditions for the first time. The plasmon effect of Ag is also introduced into long afterglow luminescent materials for performance enhancement. The degradation of RhB by SMS under ultraviolet light irradiation is 45.1%, which increase to 76.5% under dark conditions after 24 h, and finally up to 88.9% after introducing surface plasmon effect by loading Ag. The traps in SMS can capture and store electrons to achieve round-the-clock photocatalysis. This work expands the use of long afterglow materials and also provides a new type of photocatalytic materials. The use of long afterglow materials as photocatalysts will also become one of the directions for round-the-clock photocatalysis in the future.